"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

By Lew Freedman

   If the Chicago Cubs have been on a 100-year losing streak, becoming the most lovable underdogs in professional sports history, then it might be argued that the song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” has been on a century-long winning streak.

  From the moment it was penned, the baseball ditty has been synonymous with the sport. Although I happily sing along in whatever ballpark I find myself, I am a purist who prefers to “root, root, root for the home team” rather than the team of the moment.

   I confess to a definite affection for the song written in 1908 by a gentleman riding the New York subway who was inspired when he saw a poster advertising a game at the Polo Grounds. When my daughter was little, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was one of the first songs in her repertoire, though she did sing, “the old ball dame.” And the ring tone on my first cell phone played “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

   Wikipedia calls “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” a “Tin Pan Alley song” that became the “unofficial anthem of baseball.” I can’t vouch for the former, but I believe the latter.

   It has long been accepted that lyricist Jack Norworth, also known for writing “Shine on, Harvest Moon,” and his musical partner, Albert Von Tilzer, did not attend their first baseball games until decades later. A new book, “Baseball’s Greatest Hit,” written by Tim Wiles, director of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame, Rob Thompson and Andy Strasberg, released to coincide with the song’s 100th birthday, raises questions about that.

   Mostly the book celebrates the song’s glorious history, however. The song has many more verses than sung at ballparks and a recording of a Carly Simon version at the Hall of Fame is wonderful. The tune has longevity, but the heyday of its performance is probably right now. Apparently it was never sung so routinely at ballparks until the mid-1970s.

   In Chicago, the Cubs have raised the performance of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley Field to the level of group theatre. But true-blue Cubbies are dismayed to hear that expert researchers give credit to former White Sox owner Bill Veeck Jr. for popularizing the public singing of the song during the seventh-inning stretch.

  In 1976, the late, singular, unique broadcaster Harry Caray worked for the Sox. Veeck talked a reluctant Caray (otherwise never shy about hearing his own voice) into leading the crowd in song. When Caray moved to the North Side he took the act with him and it became a phenomenon. Nearly a decade after Caray’s death, the Cubs bring in guest celebrity singers to lead the crowd and the sing-along is a special part of a Wrigley visit.

   Due to Caray’s and Wrigley’s influence, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” swept the baseball world. I haven’t been to a professional game in memory where it was not sung. Major League baseball is now soliciting videos from “American Idol”-type singers and will have the winner lead the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at the All-Star game. Cool.

  Although I wonder who keeps such statistics, I have read that “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is the third most frequently sung song in the United States behind “God Bless America” and “Happy Birthday.” Well, happy birthday to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” too.

(Lew Freedman is a Chicago-based sportswriter and the co-author with former White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce of the recently released “Then Ozzie Said to Harold,” from Triumph Books.)